Thank you, yes I meant Infinito. How would one rework it to use instancing?

On a related but separate thread, I was thinking Paradiso required Infinito, but it looks like it doesn't, is that correct?

Ultimo Paradiso does NOT require Infinito - it was released about a year before Infinito was released. You can get Paradiso separately and instance in DS. Note that the set comes with 3 preloads for less/more vegetation.

The Paradiso add-on looks great too. Do the sky domes effect lighting or are they purely textural? Would one combine these with UberEnvironment for lighting for instance?

The skydomes is textural (with a few add-on options) and the set includes a lighting setup as well. Sorry I don't know how to use UberEnvironment but I used the Reality IBL sphere for my render above (I didn't use the included skydome).

Ok, so I purchased the Ultimo Paradiso and I don't understand the download. It has 12 parts... 6 are per OS so that's ok.. but then there's p1/p2 without a year and p1/p2 for 2010 and 2012... what is going on with that?

Ok, so I purchased the Ultimo Paradiso and I don't understand the download. It has 12 parts... 6 are per OS so that's ok.. but then there's p1/p2 without a year and p1/p2 for 2010 and 2012... what is going on with that?

I purchased the set earlier and I too was not sure what's with all the files, but now that I see it in writing, I'm pretty sure it's referencing installers for Poser Pro version 2010 or 2012. I had installed the 2012 set in DS 4.5 thinking 2012 meant it was the most latest and I did have issues with the Camera's not working when I selected them. Also, when I loaded the bare island and then the full set of vegetation, my computer came to a screeching halt and I couldn't move the view or do much of anything within DS. Like I was low on memory. Rebooted/reloaded and didn't make a difference. I have 8 gigs of memory on Win8 64 bit OS.

I just uninstalled the 2012 installation and installed the first set of installers without the 2010/2012 and things are much improved. The cameras are working and I can move the viewport now, though it's not "snappy".

The readme says:

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

but I dont see any DS files in the DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. I will file a service ticket and see what DAZ's says about the missing DS files.

Hi, Ultimo Paradiso installers have been updated just a few days ago with updated scripts for Poser Pro 2012.
Odd that this little modification might bring so many issues. Please open a support ticket, probably DAZ made an error producing the installers.
As a note, prior loading the full vegetation script (which loads a huge amount of geomtry) it's advisable, in both Poser and Studio, to switch drawing mode to bunding boxes, so that the interface will be responsive.

Hi, Ultimo Paradiso installers have been updated just a few days ago with updated scripts for Poser Pro 2012.
Odd that this little modification might bring so many issues. Please open a support ticket, probably DAZ made an error producing the installers.
As a note, prior loading the full vegetation script (which loads a huge amount of geomtry) it's advisable, in both Poser and Studio, to switch drawing mode to bunding boxes, so that the interface will be responsive.

Thanks for chiming in, Alessandro. Due to my ignorance in working with scenes with a huge (and I mean HUGE!) amounts of geometry with the fully loaded island vegetation, it didn't occur to me to change the drawing mode to bounding boxes... and it made a HUGE difference in moving around within the viewport.

I'm notorious for not reading documentation if provided. I've read through your manual and you do address issues that I've come across and the rendering tips are very helpful. In particular I wasn't aware of external 3D Delight rendering and will definately take a look at that thread mentioned in the manual. ( Here's a updated link to the thread in the forum archive http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=1744671 ). I'll also try Reality rendering with the setup instructions provided, thanks for including that in the manual.

As far as DS4 presets, I filed a service ticket to see if a DS installer was inadvertently excluded from the downloads. In particular, I'd like to have optimized DS material presets if they are available.

Hi, Ultimo Paradiso installers have been updated just a few days ago with updated scripts for Poser Pro 2012.
Odd that this little modification might bring so many issues. Please open a support ticket, probably DAZ made an error producing the installers.
As a note, prior loading the full vegetation script (which loads a huge amount of geomtry) it's advisable, in both Poser and Studio, to switch drawing mode to bunding boxes, so that the interface will be responsive.

Thanks for chiming in, Alessandro. Due to my ignorance in working with scenes with a huge (and I mean HUGE!) amounts of geometry with the fully loaded island vegetation, it didn't occur to me to change the drawing mode to bounding boxes... and it made a HUGE difference in moving around within the viewport.

I'm notorious for not reading documentation if provided. I've read through your manual and you do address issues that I've come across and the rendering tips are very helpful. In particular I wasn't aware of external 3D Delight rendering and will definately take a look at that thread mentioned in the manual. ( Here's a updated link to the thread in the forum archive http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=1744671 ). I'll also try Reality rendering with the setup instructions provided, thanks for including that in the manual.

As far as DS4 presets, I filed a service ticket to see if a DS installer was inadvertently excluded from the downloads. In particular, I'd like to have optimized DS material presets if they are available.

Hi Lindsey, yes indeed switching to bounding boxes is good "common practice" to use with huge scenes. I remember at the time I developed UP I had bounding boxes on all the time, so that I could easily pan and rotate the camera, position it where I wanted and finally hit the render button.
About the "deferred" render, that's something that really a few use but is a very powerful feature that allows to avoid potential crashes upon rendering within Studio.

I don't understand what's the exact nature of the issue with latest UP version. I mean, every prop has an associated .dsa file that will load automatically within the prop and set the materials. So what's going wrong exactly? Can you make an example?

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

but I dont see any DS files in the DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. I will file a service ticket and see what DAZ's says about the missing DS files.

As far as DS4 presets, I filed a service ticket to see if a DS installer was inadvertently excluded from the downloads. In particular, I'd like to have optimized DS material presets if they are available.

Hi Lindsey, yes indeed switching to bounding boxes is good "common practice" to use with huge scenes. I remember at the time I developed UP I had bounding boxes on all the time, so that I could easily pan and rotate the camera, position it where I wanted and finally hit the render button.
About the "deferred" render, that's something that really a few use but is a very powerful feature that allows to avoid potential crashes upon rendering within Studio.

I don't understand what's the exact nature of the issue with latest UP version. I mean, every prop has an associated .dsa file that will load automatically within the prop and set the materials. So what's going wrong exactly? Can you make an example?

I think there may be some terminology confusion going on here. When Readme files talk about "Daz Studio Categories", they don't generally mean that there should be files installed into Daz Studio Folders/My Library or into the equivalent folders under "Content". That term in a Readme generally refers to where you can find the items either in Smart Content or in the Categories section that sits alongside the Content Library, not to the "physical" locations of the files themselves. It gets confusing because sometimes "Daz Studio Categories" in a Readme actually does mean "Daz Studio DIRECTORIES", and it's left to the user to dig through directories to figure out which one was meant.

In the case of Ultimo Paradiso, the Daz files are installed alongside the Poser files in the Poser directories. For this product, if you look at the Ultimo Paradiso files in the Poser format directories through the Content Library, they all have the little orange scroll in the upper left corner that indicates that they have "sidecar" files containing DAZ material settings. If you go to Windows and look inside the AM directories (or left-click on the AM directories in the appropriate section and pick "browse to folder location"), you can see the DSA files.

All that said, there's something borked with the metadata with these installers, if they even have metadata. (I didn't get the thing from Studio on startup telling me that it had new metadata to import after I installed Ultimo Paradiso.) Ultimo Paradiso doesn't appear in Smart Content or the Categories, at least not where the Readme says it should be, and I can't find it anywhere else. I don't care, myself, but anyone who uses Smart Content or the Categories is going to be very confused.

vwrangler thank you very much for the clarification on the terms, that will surely be helpful for lot of users. I am one of those that don't use Smart Content, so I was not aware that there was an issue with the metadata. I'll contact DAZ to ask if they can fix this issue and produce new installers.

I don't understand what's the exact nature of the issue with latest UP version. I mean, every prop has an associated .dsa file that will load automatically within the prop and set the materials. So what's going wrong exactly? Can you make an example?

I don't know if anything is "missing". Perhaps you can enlighten me. The readme states there should be DS presets in the DAZ Content Library folders.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

These "icons" are missing from DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. I know these are not Smart Content presets. Normally there is a specific DS installer with these presets and there isn't one. I know that there are DS .dsa files in the Poser format library and the .dsa file is supposed to be invoked when the product is used in DS.

I do have a question on the scripts for loading the island, vegetation or loading an individual plant or prop for that matter. The message box that pops up says "importing .pp2". Shouldn't I be seeing .dsa files being loaded by the script? I've never paid attention to the message box when loading items and don't know how the DS script switching works if DS files are found in the Poser format libraries.

I don't understand what's the exact nature of the issue with latest UP version. I mean, every prop has an associated .dsa file that will load automatically within the prop and set the materials. So what's going wrong exactly? Can you make an example?

I don't know if anything is "missing". Perhaps you can enlighten me. The readme states there should be DS presets in the DAZ Content Library folders.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

These "icons" are missing from DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. I know these are not Smart Content presets. Normally there is a specific DS installer with these presets and there isn't one. I know that there are DS .dsa files in the Poser format library and the .dsa file is supposed to be invoked when the product is used in DS.

I assume that sentence in the readme "DS presets in the DAZ Content Library folders." it's a common phrase used in several products. Nonetheless, there are no DS presets in UP. As was explained by vwrangles, each prop has a companion .dsa file that runs automatically and applies DS specific materials to it. Also, I don't have a clue what those new icons are and where they are. I asked DAZ clarifications on this...

I do have a question on the scripts for loading the island, vegetation or loading an individual plant or prop for that matter. The message box that pops up says "importing .pp2". Shouldn't I be seeing .dsa files being loaded by the script? I've never paid attention to the message box when loading items and don't know how the DS script switching works if DS files are found in the Poser format libraries.

No that's ok. When you load a vegetation script, that's actually a .pp2 with a "companion" .dsa file that is responsible for loading props. So it's correct to see the message "importing .pp2", because the code will load and place all the various plant props and itemps around...

In DAZ studio if you go to the Smart Content Panel you will find the product pieces under that. You can filter either by files or by Product. Look under Environments/Landscape and you should see the items for Ultimo Paradiso.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

This is the areas under the smart content panel where you can expect to find pieces of this product.

The readme states there should be DS presets in the DAZ Content Library folders.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

These "icons" are missing from DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. Normally there is a specific DS installer with these presets and there isn't one. I know that there are DS .dsa files in the Poser format library and the .dsa file is supposed to be invoked when the product is used in DS.

Yes, because you have a DAZ Studio native formats folder view and a Poser native formats folder view. UP like many other products installs DS and Poser native files to the Poser native format folder using a convention that includes a PZ2 and DSA with the same name sharing a PNG thumbnail. DS is smart enough to see this and adds a little "DS script" embellishment to the icon (see my screenshot below). This means you DO have DS-specific presets, they're just installed into the Poser runtime folder from a single installer to make everybody's life easier (Poser users, DAZ users, artist, installer builder and QA). In my opinion everyone should follow this convention as it prevents duplicates showing up in the content library.

I know these are not Smart Content presets./quote]

What are "Smart Content presets?

I do have a question on the scripts for loading the island, vegetation or loading an individual plant or prop for that matter. The message box that pops up says "importing .pp2". Shouldn't I be seeing .dsa files being loaded by the script? I've never paid attention to the message box when loading items and don't know how the DS script switching works if DS files are found in the Poser format libraries.

Poser and DAZ Studio both load PP2 props - no need for separate prop files as only the textures are different between the two programs. The scripts load the same PP2 but using Poser or DS specific texture presets (PZ2 or DSA).

For what its worth I have this set and haven't had a teeny weeny hiccup with it in DS (I don't use Poser) which is more than I can say for many other products.

In DAZ studio if you go to the Smart Content Panel you will find the product pieces under that. You can filter either by files or by Product. Look under Environments/Landscape and you should see the items for Ultimo Paradiso.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

This is the areas under the smart content panel where you can expect to find pieces of this product.

If you need screenshots or a better explanation please let me know

Thanks.

Are you sure its under Smart Content and not in the Content Library? I didn't get any metadata installed with this set, hence it didn't show up in Smart Content until I created the metadata myself.

I don't know if anything is "missing". Perhaps you can enlighten me. The readme states there should be DS presets in the DAZ Content Library folders.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

These "icons" are missing from DAZ Studio Formats>My Library. I know these are not Smart Content presets. Normally there is a specific DS installer with these presets and there isn't one. I know that there are DS .dsa files in the Poser format library and the .dsa file is supposed to be invoked when the product is used in DS.

Actually no . It says you can find the icons for the product in those Categories. Material files are usually blended into the Runtime Pose folder unless the product has a full DAZ Studio installer. This product doesn't have DS settings, It has companion scripts.

By going into your Smart Content panel and looking under those categories (listed above) you will be able to find the cameras the lights, the materials and so on and so forth. At the top of the Smart content panel is filters for files or products. To quickly find the product itself click on the Product button, Open the option for Environments, then landscape, and find the Ultimo Paradiso icon. It will open to show you all the files associated with that product. (The scroll on the thumbnail will also tell you if it has a ds companion file associated with it as well

This list:

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

Is always going to be the categories in your Smart content panel, and doesn't always mean that there will be DS files inside of it.

I hope this helps explain a bit more clearly, but feel free to ask if you don't understand something :)

Are you sure its under Smart Content and not in the Content Library? I didn't get any metadata installed with this set, hence it didn't show up in Smart Content until I created the metadata myself.

I am very sure. Which version did you install? And did you install it with Studio open or closed? You can also re-import metadata by going to the arrow beside your content library panel, choosing Content DB Maintenence and on the pop up window choose re-import metadata find the product you want to re import and click ok.

In DAZ studio if you go to the Smart Content Panel you will find the product pieces under that. You can filter either by files or by Product. Look under Environments/Landscape and you should see the items for Ultimo Paradiso.

You can find new icons for this product in the following DAZ Studio Categories:
“Cameras”
“Environments:Landscape”
“Lights:Exterior”
“Materials:Landscape”
“Utilities:Scripts”

This is the areas under the smart content panel where you can expect to find pieces of this product.

If you need screenshots or a better explanation please let me know

Thanks.

Hum.. so it is Smart Content, my bad. I don't see any of these categories my Smart Content. Can you show one screen shot of one of the categories of what I should be seeing? Thanks..

I do have a question on the scripts for loading the island, vegetation or loading an individual plant or prop for that matter. The message box that pops up says "importing .pp2". Shouldn't I be seeing .dsa files being loaded by the script? I've never paid attention to the message box when loading items and don't know how the DS script switching works if DS files are found in the Poser format libraries.

No that's ok. When you load a vegetation script, that's actually a .pp2 with a "companion" .dsa file that is responsible for loading props. So it's correct to see the message "importing .pp2", because the code will load and place all the various plant props and itemps around...

Thanks.. That explains a lot. I thought the .dsa was like a .dsf that would load the item and materials. I just examined one and it does say it's a DS material file script.

Are you sure its under Smart Content and not in the Content Library? I didn't get any metadata installed with this set, hence it didn't show up in Smart Content until I created the metadata myself.

I am very sure. Which version did you install? And did you install it with Studio open or closed? You can also re-import metadata by going to the arrow beside your content library panel, choosing Content DB Maintenence and on the pop up window choose re-import metadata find the product you want to re import and click ok.

AAAHHHhhh! I manually re-imported the UP metadata file and all of the items show up in Smart Content.. !! thanks JGreenlees for suggesting that. I'll close out my Service Ticket..